Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII (1230-11 October 1303), born Benedetto Caetani, was Pope from 1294 to 1303, succeeding Pope Celestine V and preceding Pope Benedict XI.

Biography
Benedetto Caetani was born in 1230 to the House of Caetani, a dynasty of Catholic Italians. In 1252 he became Bishop of Todi, and in 1264 he became a part of the Roman curia. On the death of Pope Celestine V in 1294, Benedetto was elected as "Pope Boniface VIII", and during his reign he tried to mediate in the War of Guelphs and Ghibellines. He divided Naples and Sicily between the Kingdom of Naples (ruled by the House of Anjou) and the Kingdom of Trinacria (ruled by the House of Aragon), and he also excommunicated King Philip IV of France when he tried to increase his control over the Catholic Church in France. In 1303, the excommunicated Philip and Guillaume de Nogaret led an army and captured Boniface at Anagni, and they beat him and nearly executed him. He was released from captivity after three days, and he died on 11 October 1303.